In general, latex gloves are worn during a medical procedure to provide a physical barrier between the patient's body or tissues and the hands, wrist and arm regions of a health care practitioner such as a physician, nurse, phlebotomist and the like. The gloves must be flexible so that the manual dexterity of the health care practitioner or worker is not significantly decreased. The gloves are usually well-fitting and comfortable so that glove wear does not cause hand fatigue or discomfort.
Disposible sterile and nonsterile latex medical gloves are available. Sterile latex medical gloves are also known in the field as surgical gloves; they are sterilized at the glove factory; are made available typically as a pair in a specific size and are sealed in a sterile package. Surgical gloves are most often used for sterile field surgery to prevent a transfer of an infectious pathogen to a surface of a surgical wound from a surgeon's hands. Nonsterile latex medical gloves are also known in the field as examination gloves; they are used during non-sterile procedures; are made available usually in a size that can suitably fit either hand and are often packaged in bulk, for example in quanities of 50 per box. Non-sterile procedures include the medical examination of human body surfaces, body invaginations and body orifices; nonsterile medical gloves are also worn for protecting the hands of medical, research or hospital workers from contact with hazardous substances and surfaces. Examples of hazardous substances and surfaces include but are not limited to the following examples: biological waste products such as feces and urine, soiled wound dressings, garments or other materials, syringe needles, other medical devices, irritating or toxic liquids or chemicals, biological toxins, radioactive substances, and infectious pathogens. For the present invention, the term "infectious pathogens" is meant to include but is not limited to the following pathogens: viruses, bacteria, fungi, yeasts, rickettsia, prions, multicellular parasites, the spores of infectious pathogens, and the like.
At least three kinds of glove wall failure are known currently plague the currently known types of medical gloves. First, about two percent of standard latex gloves have inherent microscopic perforations after manufacturing that can be easily be permeated by small infectious pathogens such as a virus. Secondly, during their use, medical gloves may acquire additional perforations, small tears or small punctures which may go unnoticed but could provide a pathway for infectious pathogens to contact the hands of the glove wearer, particularly when the glove is contacted by bloody contaminated body fluids containing the infectious pathogen. If an infectious pathogen contacts human skin, the individual may eventually become systemically infected with the pathogen. Thirdly, if the glove is accidentally punctured by an object that is contaminated with an infectious pathogen, a gloved hand may become contaminated with an infectious pathogen. When a glove wall is punctured, the glove puncturing object may have a sharp edge like a hypodermic needle, suture needle, or scapel blade but an object with blunt edges can also puncture a glove wall. When the currently available medical gloves are worn on the hands, the gloves are not designed nor have the capacity to protect the hands when a glove is punctured by an object that is contaminated with an infectious pathogen.
The prevalence of vital disease caused by infectious pathogens in the human population has created an urgent need for more protective medical gloves that retain their medical utility. Currently, the most feared infectious pathogen is the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). When a human is infected with HIV, a gradual destruction of the human immune system results over several years and this leads to Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS), an illness which is generally ultimately fatal. In general, antiviral medical treatments are of limited utility. Vaccines are of limited utility because the HIV surface proteins mutate quickly and immunologically resistant strains of HIV evolve. Thus there is no known medical cure for HIV infection. A person who tests positive for HIV antibodies knows that they have been exposed to and probably harbor HIV in their body. Hepatitis B virus (HBV) is another virus that can lethally infect a human. There is an effective anti-HBV vaccine, but the vaccination treatment is a prolonged and expensive process. Better medical gloves could help to lessen the chance of vital infection. Likewise, better medical gloves would be useful to lessen the chance of infection from any infectious pathogen.
Medical gloves are commonly made from elastomeric materials such as latex rubber or plastic. Materials for a glove may also be obtained from a plant fiber such as cotton, from an animal secretion such as silk, from an animal tissue such as the skin or intestine, from a mineral or from a metal. The material(s) used to manufacture a medical glove should be flexible and should be capable of being made into a fiber or a thin sheet.
A second pair of gloves may be worn over the first pair of gloves to increase the thickness of their physical barrier protection. Multiple pairs of medical gloves can be worn provided that fine dexterous hand work can still be done. However, if two or more pairs of gloves are worn, the medical work by the gloved hand can become difficult and tiring.
Thick-walled work gloves have been constructed using the same materials that can be used to make thin-walled gloves. However, thick-walled gloves are inflexible and this property has generally limited their use by most medical doctors, health care workers, skilled workers and the like workers. A number of thick-walled work gloves have been developed to protect a hand from a serious cut or from a puncture wound by an object. For example, thick-walled cut-resistent gloves have been developed to protect the hands in animal slaughter houses where meat is manually cut (See U.S. Pat. No. 4,526,828 and PCT WO 91/10409). However, a puncture-resistant glove has not been developed that is also flexible to the degree needed by skilled medical personnel and the like who must use there hands skillfully and require protective gloves.
A glove in accordance with the present invention is relatively thin-walled and flexible so that the glove can be comfortably worn and easily used by medical personnel and the like workers as are conventional medical gloves. In addition, like a conventional medical glove, the present invention is capable of becoming punctured by an object.
The present invention has important, novel additional functions. Generally when an object punctures a glove in accordance with the present invention, the glove by a number of processes can immediately and automatically begin to help to protect the hand and any hand wound beneath the glove from becoming infected with an infectious pathogen should the object have been contaminated with an infectious pathogen.
A recent study of accidental blood contact during hospital surgical procedures in burn, trauma, orthopedic, general, gynecology, and plastic surgical services concluded that surgical gloves are an important means for preventing a substantial percentage of the blood contacts with the hands (Panlilo et al, 1991). Blood and body fluids can be contaminated with infectious pathogens such as HIV (also sometimes known as the AIDS virus) and the Hepatitis B virus. Because many substances or material objects can temporarily harbor an infectious pathogen, medical workers are made aware of the risks of becoming contaminated from contacting soiled objects and body fluids from infected individuals. Medical workers are advised to wear medical gloves in any environment which may contain infectious pathogens (Panlilo et al., 1991).
The United States Center For Disease Control (U.S. CDC) has issued guidelines for the prevention and control of nosocomial infections, for hospital environment control, and for control of surgical wound infections (See publications by Simmons, B. P., 1983). The U.S. CDC has reported that a clean wound (a wound that is initially pathogen-free) has only a 1 to 5 percent average risk of becoming infected whereas a contaminated wound (a wound exposed to an infectious pathogen) has a 15 to 17 percent average risk of becoming infected. Furthermore, it was found that a dirty wound (a wound exposed to biological or environmental liquid and solid waste which may be contaminated with an infectious pathogen) has more than a 27 percent average risk of becoming infected. Therefore, an infection is much more likely to occur in a dirty or contaminated wound than in a clean wound. Surgeons have administered an antiseptic solution directly into a wound as an irrigation solution (See also Maki, D. C, 1976). Furthermore the U.S. CDC guidelines advise doctors and health care workers to wash their hands with an antiseptic detergent to reduce the microbial (infectious pathogen) contamination on their hands before they wear medical gloves. Thus the cleaning of a wound and antiseptic decontamination of the hands are established treatment means for decreasing the risk of infection in a wound. The U.S. CDC has also suggested that antiseptics are more effective antimicrobial agents than soap and water, but has pointed out that frequent exposure of the skin with an antiseptic is often more irritating than skin exposure to soap and water. Thus, prolonged or repeated skin exposure to antiseptic compositions is ill-advised.
In 1987, the U.S. CDC issued the recommendation that medical examination gloves be worn as a "Universal Precaution". To adhere to the Universal Precaution Guidelines, doctors and other medical personnel are expected: (1) to assume that each patient is infected with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and thus to wear a new pair of gloves with each new patient, and (2) to remove their gloves and to wash their hands immediately if their hands appear to have become contaminated with blood or other body fluids (See Bartlett, J. G., 1988).
Although medical workers are well aware of the utility of an antiseptic in the prevention of skin infection and wound infection, medical glove wearers may not always be able to comply with the proposed U.S. CDC guidelines in a competent manner. It may be inconvenient or impossible for a glove wearer to immediately remove a damaged or contaminated glove during surgery or during a stressful medical emergency. Such a delay in glove removal may be dangerous for the glove wearer. The time delay may permit the blood circulation of the glove wearer to become more contaminated with an infectious pathogen. Delayed disinfection of the hand or hand wound with an antiseptic may be an ineffective means for preventing the systemic spread of an infectious pathogen in an individual. The glove wearer may delay glove removal and decontamination of the hand or hand wound with an antiseptic because the glove puncture was not perceived; the the wound may not be not felt immediately or bleeding from the wound may be so minor that it is not immediately noticed. It is thus a serious problem that some medical glove wearers may unwittingly delay a medical treatment of their gloved hands when a hand has become injured by a pathogen-contaminated object.
There has been an obvious increase in the wearing of medical gloves in many health care work environments following adoption of the Universal Precautions Guidelines and following the epidemic growth of AIDS in the human population. Because it is not known with certainty exactly which work environments can harbor an infectious pathogen such as HIV, medical gloves are now routinely worn by many medical or public workers whenever they suspect they may be at risk of any kind of accidental infection by any infectious pathogen. The present invention may be usefully worn in many work environments and during many kinds of work. The work environments and kinds of work in which gloves in accordance with the present invention may be used include but are not limited to the following examples: hospitals, medical clinics, private doctor offices, emergency medical work, medical ambulance work, fire rescue work, medical practice areas involving AIDS patients, surgery, gynecology, human fertility work, urology, general medicine, pathology, epidemiology, microbiology, neurology, orthopedics, radiology, ontology, nursing, dentistry, podiatry, psychiatry, psychiatric hospitals, hospices, other medical practices and specialties, kidney dialysis centers, diagnostic medical imaging-testing and operations facilities, hospital emergency waiting rooms, emergency hospital ambulatory care, clinics for drug rehabilitation, donor organ and tissue preservation banks and labs, blood banks, blood testing and related analytical chemistry labs, sperm banks, sperm testing labs, basic and clinical medical research labs, medical instrument cleaning, sharpening and repair facilities, hospital patient rooms, hospital operating rooms, cleaning and maintenance work, hospital laundries, hospital cafeterias, other hospital patient food service work, hospital morgues, funeral homes and related work areas that study or handle dead human bodies and tissues, medical and public waste or garbage collection areas, disposal areas and containers for human blood and disposible medical utensils, work with blood products, urine products or any human body products, hospital trash and other disposible waste areas which might contain medical waste, work with sharp contaminated objects such as needles, syringes, wires, catheters, and intravenous sets, plastic and glass tubes and pipettes, glass slides, scalpel blades, and the like; disposible medical instruments and work areas involved in surgical instrument handling, repair and cleaning, clothing and medical assist areas; areas of medical garbage removal and medical sanitation work, medical work in nursing or retirement homes, and cleaning or industrial operations in any building where there may be any risk of a pathogenic infection. Surgical gloves and/or examination gloves in accordance with the present invention may also be used in animal medicine and during general work with animals in research, on farms or ranches with animals, in veterinary and animal husbandry practices and pet stores, in work with zoo animals, and in similar work where there may be some risk of contact with an infectious pathogen. Gloves in accordance with the present invention may also provide useful protection from physical contact with infectious pathogens that may exist in potentially infectious, nonmedical technical areas, scientific areas and other work areas including but not limited to the following examples: industrial, military, or other research work that involves work with infectious pathogens used in molecular biology or molecular genetics, recombinant molecular genetics, fermentation and vaccine production; the facilities include any government, military, commercial, industrial, or biotechnological production, research and testing areas. Medical gloves in accordance with the present invention are also useful protective hand wear in areas or in work which may include but is not limited to the following examples: public and business building maintenance work and cleaning, outdoor public areas work, restaurant work, sports clubs, spas, health clubs, massage parlors, building rehabilitation and clean-up work; guard work in jails, prisons, and other crimminal confinement facilities. Gloves in accordance with the present invention may be useful during travel in public or private vehicles used to provide surface, underground, water, underwater, air, aerospace or even outer space transport conceivably may harbor infectious pathogens.
Conventional medical gloves are often worn to protect the hands of an individual from coming into physical contact with an infectious pathogen that infects another individual. Gloves in accordance with the present invention can provide superior protection for the glove wearer compared to conventional medical gloves when the glove wearer is within possible contact of individuals who are at risk of being infected with an infectious pathogen. Individuals who at risk of being infected with an infectious pathogen include but are not limited to the following examples: a person infected with the AIDS virus, a person infected with hepatitis B virus or other viruses, a person with a bacterial infection, a hospital patient, a health care patient, an intravenous drug user, a prostitute, a gang member, a homeless person, a mentally-ill person, a person suspected of or engaged in criminal activity, a captured or convicted or imprisoned criminal; an illegal immigrant, an immigrant from a known HIV-infested population, a new immigrant, a homosexual or bisexual individual, a sexually promiscuous individual, and a chronically-ill, elderly or incapacitated person who is at an increased risk of harboring an infectious pathogen. In addition, according to researchers based upon a U.S. survey of more than 11,000 students, it is believed that one in five American teenagers are at higher risk for acquiring AIDS because they have had sexual contact with several partners (four or more persons) during their teenage years (See The New York Times, Medical Science Section C3, dated Apr. 14, 1992 by Associated Press). Thus the risk among teenagers for acquiring AIDS may increase as more and more teenagers become carriers of the AIDS virus.
A glove in accordance with the present invention may also usefully protect an individual under other circumstances. Animals, plants, soil, water, the air, and various forms of environmental pollution are capable of supporting colonies of infectious pathogens which may infect an individual. Thus workers in many nonmedical environments can also become contaminated with an infectious pathogen. Such nonmedical workers include but are not limited to the following workers: law enforcement workers, police, state trooper, national guard, military personnel, traffic police, transit police, jail and prison workers, park workers and park cleaners, sanitation workers, city morgue workers, hospital morgue workers, funeral home workers, and cemetery workers, waste and water treatment facility workers, street cleaners, sewer workers and other municipal workers, persons cleaning public bathrooms and portable toilet maintainance workers.
In addition, flexible protective medical gloves in accordance with the present invention can be used by any doctor, dentist, health care worker and the like or other individual who choses to continue working after they have tested seropositive with an infectious pathogen such as for example HIV or hepatitus B virus (See News York Times article by Jane Gross, dated Aug. 18, 1991). It is particularly important for infected medical personnel to wear protective medical gloves so that they do not transmit their infection to another person.
If an object cuts, or otherwise penetrates a thin medical glove wall while it is being worn on a hand, the physical barrier protection provided by the glove is immediately lost. Such an accident to a glove while it is being worn may also wound the hand and this wounding may expose the blood circulation of the individual to the surface of the glove-puncturing object; becoming wounded is particularly traumatic and serious if the surface of the glove-puncturing object may be contaminated with an infectious pathogen such as HIV.
Medical personnel know that wearing a conventional medical glove can not adequately protect a hand from a glove-puncturing object contaminated with HIV. HIV contamination to a gloved individual can take place if a syringe needle contaminated with AIDs-tainted blood punctures the glove and wounds the hand. A variety of medical objects have caused an instant HIV inoculation to the hands of health care workers wearing standard surgical or examination gloves (See Henderson et al., 1990; Beekman et al., 1990; Panlilo et al., 1991).
For the present invention, the term glove wall puncture is broadly defined to encompass a glove wall puncture caused by any object or by any process. A glove wall puncture may be caused by any physical object capable of cutting, biting, abrading, puncturing, stabbing, crushing, or otherwise physically penetrating the glove wall. When such objects are contaminated with an infectious pathogen, they can act as a carrier for the transfer of the infectious pathogen to the hand and the hand wound. Alternatively, the glove wall puncture may be caused in the absence of a solid physical object, for example by any process that helps to cause a hole in the glove. Processes that may help to cause a hole in a glove include but are not limited to the following: a chemical reaction with the glove wall material, a solvent dissolution of the glove wall, a change in the ambient gas pressure or liquid pressure on a glove wall surface, passage of a powerful electrical shock through the glove wall, a thermal melting or burning of the glove wall, or a low temperature freezing followed by fragmentation of the glove wall. In the forementioned examples, the process helping to or actually causing the glove wall puncture may not actually transfer an infectious pathogen to the hand or to the hand wound. In general a glove wall puncture always creates the access means through the glove wall for an infectious pathogen from the exterior surface of the glove to then contact the hand or a hand wound.
Health care workers and medical doctors in particular, know that hand wounding is a common accident, one that they often experience a number of times each year in their work environments because conventional medical gloves are not puncture-resistant and because this is a common risk in their work environments, particularily with sharp objects (Panlilio et al., 1991; see especially Wright et al., 1991). For the present invention, the term "hand" is broadly defined to encompass all portions of an arm and a hand that may be covered by a glove in accordance with the present invention; thus use of the term "hand" for some embodiments of the present invention may refer to the fingers, all surfaces of the hand, the wrist, the forearm, and may refer even to the surfaces of the arm up to the armpit and the shoulder.
Health care workers and other professionals who care for patients with AIDS know that they may become infected with the AIDS virus (HIV) from their work with AIDS patients. It is clear that as a result of the AIDS epidemic, medical doctors and health care workers now work with increased anxiety and fear of contracting AIDS (See "Fear of Disease Changes How Doctors Work, New York Times dated Apr. 7, 1992, page 1, by Lisa Belkin). Medical workers know that an accidental hand wound during their professional work may infect them with HIV and shorten their lives (Gerberding and Schecter, 1991). Each time a gloved hand is wounded by an object contaminated with blood or other body fluids, the wounded medical worker must psychologically deal with the possibility that the wound was contaminated with HIV, and that they are at some generally-unclear risk of acquiring an HIV infection. Thus, there is clearly an urgent need for a more protective medical glove than is currently available, that can provide superior protection for the glove wearer hand when their hand is wounded by an object that may be contaminated with an infectious pathogen such as HIV.
Some medical doctors and health care workers have indicated they would not disclose if their hand was wounded or injured during work by an object possibly contaminated with HIV nor would they disclose to their co-workers if their blood were to test positive for antibodies to HIV antigens because such disclosure would reveal to their co-workers that they might have a systemic HIV infection which could threaten their employment in health care (See Orentlicher, D., 1991; and New York Times article by Jane Gross, dated Aug. 18, 1991). Thus, there is a tendency for HIV infections to go unreported by medical workers and this would suggest that data gathered to estimate the incidence of accidental glove punctures among health care workers would be underestimated.
As mentioned, medical personnel work in environments having sharp medical instruments and needles which can readily puncture a standard medical glove on a hand and cause a hand wound (See Gerberding and Schecter, 1991). The reported incidence of accidental skin punctures to hospital surgical personnel in three major municipal hospitals (in San Francisco, Albuerque, and Atlanta) has averaged 2 to 5 injuries per 100 procedures (Panlilio et al., 1991; Gerberding et al., 1990; Gerberding and Schecter, 1991). These hospitals have also reported that occupational exposure to blood occurs often in surgical settings (Gerberding et al., 1990; Gerberding and Schecter, 1991; Panlilio et al., 1991). Accidental blood contact between a patient having HIV and workers in other more casual (nonsurgical) medical settings has been predicted to increase in view of the epidemic spread of HIV infection in the United States and in the World (Gerberding et al., 1990).
Three known factors that can affect the risk of a medical worker becoming infected with an infectious pathogen are (1) the prevalence of blood-borne infection in the patient population under treatment by the medical worker, (2) the frequency and types of hazardous exposure that the medical worker is subjected to, and (3) the risk of infection that accompanies each exposure to the medical worker (Gerberding and Schecter, 1991). It is thought unlikely that medical personnel can control the first two factors and still remain valid health care workers. It is one object of the present invention to help to lower the worker's risk from the third factor, namely a glove in accordance with the present invention may be used to try to help to lower the risk of infection that accompanies each hazardous exposure to a medical worker's hand.
The risk of systemic HIV infection to an individual wounded on a hand from a single hollow needle stick has recently been estimated to average roughly 0.4 percent (1 occurence in 250 events). This risk estimate was calculated from observations of documented needlestick wounds that were contaminated with blood from patients having an advanced stage of HIV infection during which their blood had an elevated HIV titer (Beckman et al., 1990; Henderson et al., 1990). This estimate is an underestimate because some hand injuries will not be reported and this study therefore underscores the real risk that medical workers experience.
An analysis of the risk of infection that accompanies each exposure of a hand and a hand wound to an infectious pathogen has been conducted, based upon an in vitro study of glove wall punctures by needles. The study found that the risk was influenced by several variables. An important variable was the volume of infectious blood transferred by the needlestick (See Mast and Gerberding, 1991). Other important variables included (1) the titer of the infectious pathogen in the contaminating blood, (2) the needle type and size, and (3) the depth of skin penetration by the pathogen contaminated object. Other observations have shown that wearing a standard medical glove on the hand can reduce the volume of blood transferred to the hand wound by about 50 percent (See Gerberding and Schecter, 1991). When two pairs of standard medical gloves were worn on the hand, the contamination of the hand wound by blood was further reduced to between 20 to 40 percent, (Gerberding and Schecter, 1991; Mandelbrot et al., 1990). Thus, studies have found that wearing two standard gloves on a hand can reduce, but does not adequately protect, a hand when it is wounded by a blood-tainted needle. The hand can become contaminated with a substantial fraction of the foreign blood, infectious pathogens or other substances present on the glove-puncturing blood-tainted needle. In view of the (a) incomplete protection that conventional gloves can provide, (b) the frequency of accidental hand wounds by gloved health care workers, and (c) the increasing incidence of HIV infection in the human population, it is likely that the probability of a health care worker becoming infected with HIV during work from HIV contamination of a hand wound will increase. The medical profession is concerned about their risk of HIV infection from a medical glove puncture and would like their risk to be reduced (See Orentlicher, 1991).
To have medical utility, a protective medical glove should retain the flexibility and the comfortability characteristics of conventional medical gloves. The prior art has not disclosed a flexible protective medical glove having a wall that is capable of storing a non-liquid antiseptic composition which comprises an antiseptic. The prior art has not disclosed the uses for a flexible protective medical barrier glove having a wall that stores a non-liquid antiseptic composition which comprises an antiseptic. When a glove puncture is caused by an object, the present invention can provide a non-liquid antiseptic composition capable of contacting and coating the object puncturing the flexible glove; useful as a treatment means for the hand and the hand wound that may occur when the flexible glove is punctured and/or the hand is wounded by the object puncturing the flexible glove; and particularily useful when the object may be contaminated with an infectious pathogen.
Related additional prior art is described below, but is not identical to the present invention. In view of the prior art, the subject matter of the present invention as a whole would not be obvious to persons of ordinary skill in the art pertaining to the subject matter of the present invention at the time of the invention.
A protective gel composition has been disclosed (U.S. Pat. No. 5,019,604 issued May 28, 1990 to G. M. Lemole) for coating the skin prior to covering the hands with standard surgical gloves. In one example, the composition contains lanolin, liquid silicone, polypropylene glycol monoleate, polytetrafluoroethylene powder in microspherical form, zinc oxide powder, anti-bacterial agents and antiviral agents with a preferred agent being nonoxynol-9. The composition forms a water repellent coating on the skin to prevent the skin contacting body fluids such as blood and blood products that may penetrate the gloves and otherwise expose the skin to harmful microbial and vital infections. The use of a protective gel to continuously contact the skin with chemicals may be irritating to the hands. After glove removal, the gel coating the skin must be washed off. Some individuals may also find that the number of steps required to use and remove the gel is time consuming or disagreeable. Use of the gel composition between two gloves was not suggested.
Use of antiseptic-coated gloves has been disclosed in a study of surgical hand hygiene (J. Hospit. Infect. 1988, 11 Supp. A:244-250 by Newsom et al.). Gloves were coated with solid cetylpyridinium chloride and surpressed skin flora counts after prolonged operations in comparison to standard gloves, but the solid antiseptic coating may cause hand irritation after prolonged contact. Use of such antiseptic between two gloves was not suggested.
Use of the antiseptic 4.0% chlorhexidine gluconate detergent formulation containing 4.0% isopropyl alcohol (Hibiclens/Hibiscrub) and the antiseptic 0.50% chlorhexidine gluconate in 70.0% isopropyl alcohol with emollients (Hibistat/Hibisol) as a skin treatment has been disclosed (J. Hospital Infection, 1990, 15:279-282 by Montefiori DC et al.). This antiseptic composition was found to inactivate HIV in experimental cell cultures after 15 seconds when used at 1:100 and 1:5 dilutions. Use of such antiseptic between two gloves was not suggested.
A sterile glove has been disclosed in which the antibacterial agent zeolite is immobilized in a plastic film on one or both surfaces of the glove; useful for handling food, for work in a kitchen or for medical purposes (U.S. Pat. No. 5,003,638 issued Apr. 2, 1991 by T. Miyake and T. Yamamoto). According to the Merck Index (8th Edition), zeolite is a hydrated dust or powder of alkali aluminum silicate. An immobilized thin layer of antibacterial agent can not help to prevent a hand wound infection.
A glove has been disclosed which was made by first immobilizing an anti-microbial agent into rubber and by then solidifying the mixture into a glove (U.S. Pat. No. 5,031,245, issued Jul. 18, 1991 by Milner, R.). The glove was reported to be an improved barrier to HIV. A non-ionic, sparingly water-soluble antimicrobial agent that does not coagulate natural rubber latex such as chlorophene, dichloroxylenol, hexachloraphane was used; diphenyl derivatives may be halogenated and used such as 0.1% to 10% by wt. 2,4,4'-trichloro-2'-hydroxyphenyl ether, diacetylaminoazotoluene, triclocarban and triclosan. The surface of the glove was dusted with a powder containing an anti-microbial agent such as chlorhexidine digluconate and cyclodextrin. The antiseptic dust on the glove surface contacts the hand while the glove is worn and may irritate the skin.
A multilaminar hybrid glove has been disclosed having at least an outer rubber layer, an inner rubber layer and at least one intermediate (cotton or Kevlar plastic) material layer layer impregnated with a gel containing 4 percent nonoxynol-9; regions of the glove may be protected with an armor of fungicide-coated, puncture-resistant Kevlar plastic fabric (Infect. Control Hospital Epidemiol. 1991, 12(7): 435-438 by Johnson et al., 1991). In vitro tests found that the glove with Kevlar resisted some needlestick punctures. In vitro tests found that the glove reduced the transfer of HIV from a solid needle tip to a culture dish by chemical inactivation of the virus on the needle when the needle contacted the gel containing nonoxynol-9 in the cotton layer. Results using "hollow" syringe needles were not obtained and the authors indicated they could not predict such results without additional study. The authors disclosed that their gloves were too stiff and too thick-walled to function on the dominant hand of a surgeon; they suggested that thinner, more surgically acceptable intermediate gloves were needed; but these three-layer gloves containing nonoxynol-9 gel antiseptic were not flexible enough for the needs of a medical worker performing manual skilled work.
The present invention is directed toward providing novel flexible protective medical glove designs and methods for their use. A glove in accordance with the present invention can provide a non-liquid antiseptic composition treatment to a hand when the glove wall is punctured. The subject matter of the present invention as a whole has not been made obvious nor has it been suggested by the prior art for medical gloves or for antiseptic compositions used on the hands. The flexible protective medical gloves comprising the present invention are provide a major improvement in medical glove protection technology because the present invention may be useful as an automatic means for helping to protect a hand from becoming infected by a glove-puncturing object when the object is contaminated with an infectious pathogen. Use of the gloves does not constantly expose the hands to a potentially irritating antiseptic. The non-liquid antiseptic composition in the gloves can not flow from a glove wall puncture as a liquid could. However, for some embodiments of the present invention the non-liquid antiseptic composition may be capable of automatically expanding following a glove wall puncture so that non-liquid antiseptic composition is expelled from the glove wall puncture onto the hand and into a hand wound should one occur.